Windbreak tent



L. WALRAVE June l0, 1969 WINDBREAK TENT Filed Jan. 27, 1967 United States Patent O 3,448,748 WINDBREAK TENT Louis Walrave, 20-22 Rue de Turenne, Paris 4eme, France Filed Jan. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 612,267 Claims priority, application France, Feb. 18, 1966,

Inf. ci. A4sf 1/12, 1/161 U.S. Cl. 135-1 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention essentially relates to the construction of a windbreak tent intended to permit sheltering from the wind whilst remaining exposed to the sun, and preferably made in the form of a pliable sheath capping a reinforcing grid or frame connected to a ground-sheet or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to tents and like protective covers, which provides a windbreak to permit people or articles under it sheltering from the wind whilst remaining exposed to the sun, and which may be converted simply into a normal tent providing shelter from the wind and/ or the sun as well as from outsiders looking in, so as to represent a conventional sheltering tent thereafter.

SUMMARY According to the present invention a tent or the like comprises a reinforcing frame connected to a groundsheet or the like, plastic posts starting, for example, from a series of reinforcing points of the sheet and terminating at a top element in the case of a tent of gothic or ogival shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION O'F THE DRAWINGS FIG. l is a perspective view of a windbreak tent;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of a post base;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a base corner;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross section of a folded post;

FIG. 5 is a similar view to FIG. 4 showing the post erected; and

FIG. `6 is a perspective view of the top element of the tent.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, a windbreak tent comprises a sheath 10 of transparent plastic material capping a reinforcing frame made up of four posts 11-14 starting from the corners of a square ground-sheet 15 or the like and joined together around a top element 16 or block.

Each of the posts consists of a tube of relatively pliable and resilient plastic material comprising two sections, that is to say a bottom section such as 11A and an upper section such as 11B, which in the operative position are held one in the extension of the other by a coupling sleeve 18. As apparent in FIG. 2, the bottom terminal part of the post element 11A for example, is closed olf by a plug 19 made of wood for example, immobilized relative to the tube by screws 20 or by any other means such as gluing. This plug is tted by an axial screw 21 and a washer 22 to a corner reinforcement (not shown in detail) of the ground-sheet 15, Whose sides are advantageously raised within the tent, as shown at 23 for example.

The adjacent terminal parts of two elements such as 11A and 11B of each post are closed olf, respectively (see FIG. 4), by two cylindrical sections 24 and 25, of which one is set back slightly and the other projects slightly,

y 3,448,748 Patented June 10, 1969 which are axiallytraversed by an elastic cord 26. In the folded position of the post,'the coupling sleeve 1'8 rests on an abutment ring 27 projecting from the upper tube section 11B at a distance from its extremity corresponding substantially to the length of the sleeve, whereas the section 11A bears a similar ring 28 at a distance from its extremity corresponding substantially to half of the said length.

With an arrangement of this kind, it suffices to olferup the upper half-post 11B in extension of the lower halfpost 11A (FIG. 5), for assembly to occur automatically: the projecting and preferably slightly chamfered or tapered extremity of the cylindrical section or plug 25 drawn back by the resilient action of the cord 26 engages in the recess formed to this end by the other plug 24 in the extremity of the associated half-post, whereas the sleeve 18 mounted in a sliding t on the tubes, assumes its position on the lower abutment ring 28 by sliding under the action of its own weight.

The upper terminal part of each post is engaged on an end-piece 29 screwed for this purpose into a top element or block 30 (FIG. 6r) comprising a corresponding number of lateral surfaces, whereas a decorative apex element 31 in the form of a sphere for example, is screwed into its upper surface.

The sheath 10 for capping the reinforcing structure thus formed, starting from and above the ground-sheet 15, is formed by four panels cut from transparent plastic material sheet, namely two lateral panels, 32, 33, a rear panel 34 and a front panel 35.

In this case, each of the panels has the form of a curvilinear triangle of gothic arch form, with two curvilinear sides surmounting a suitably reinforced rectilinear base. The adjacent curvilinear sides are joined to each other by a welding seam such as 36, the four ridge-lines thus formed terminating at the centre of the sheath in a top ring shown diagrammatically at 38 in FIG. 6, this ring being adapted to engage over the decorative element 31.

On the other hand, each of the ridge-lines 36 at its lower extremity (FIGS. 2, 3) terminates at a corner reinforcement 39 bearing an oval eye 40y adapted to operate in conjunction with a hooking stud or the like 41 -on the corresponding corner reinforcement of the groundsheet.

The front panel 35 has a wide passage opening 42, the perimeter of this opening being reinforced by a marginal strip 43, which is naturally extended at 44-45 on the uncut terminal parts of the base of the front panel; if desired, these parts may moreover be tensioned in prolongation of each other and towards each other, by means of an elastic cord 46 fitted between two hooks 47.

The reinforcements are preferably made of impregnated fabric which may be joined to the plastic fabric of the sheath by bonding or welding.

At the bottom of each of the other panels 32, 33 and 34 of the sheath is an extension in the form of a rectangular strip having a part 146 facing the bottom of the panel along a predetermined height, and a part 147 forming a sill. The part 146 carries a row of swivel hooking studs or the like 48 adapted to receive and secure corresponding eyes 49 spaced along the outer edge of the sill so that the latter may be folded on itself to form a tubular structure which may be filled with sand, for example, in order to ensure stability of the tent under the action of the wind.

It is suicient in most cases moreover, to load the sill or flap 147 with sand to ensure stability of the tent,- without having to attach this flap to the swivel hooks 48.

VThe windbreak tent thus formed may be converted into a sheltering tent, such as a beach or unrobing tent, for example; for this purpose, a complementary sheath (not shown) of opaque cloth is provided, of similar form to the transparent sheath. This complementary sheath may have eyes to t over the swivel hooks such as 41 and 48 and may comprise a displaceable panel or ap in alignment with the front panel 35 or merely in alignment with the passage opening 42 wrought therein.

This movable panel or ap may have any suitable securing means such as a slide-fastener fitted at each side, or it may be constructed to be raised to form an awning with two posts in known manner.

With gothic arch tent shapes as herein described, a different number of posts and ridges may be used, the posts being made of a single piece or made up of more than two sections. Other shapes may be employed such as a truncated pyramid, a parallelepiped, or a semi-cylinder. The stabilising device formed by the loaded flaps or sills may be complemented or replaced by any conventional devices such as stakes or guy wires.

If desired, increased ventilation of the windbreak tent may be provided by arranging windows or other variable opening apertures in the side panels 32, 33, for example, in the construction of the drawings.

I claim:

1. A sheltering tent comprising a polygonal ground sheet, a plurality of flexible and tubular posts, a top element having a plurality of end-pieces regularly spaced circumferentially therearound, the upper extremity of each of said posts being slidably engageable with a respective one of said end-pieces to form a rigid connection therewith, a covering sheath of pliable material adapted to cover said posts lwhen all of said upper post ends are engaged with said top element, plug means secured within and closing the lower end of each of said tubular posts, fastening means extending through said ground sheet and into engagement with said plugs for permanently fastening the corners thereof to the lower ends of said posts, and detachable cover fastener means on the lower extremities of the said posts, said fastener means including: a first fastening portion mounted on the outsides of said posts by means of fasteners in engagement with said plugs; and a second fastening portion carried by said sheath at a location to engage its said first portion when said sheath fully covers said posts, whereby engagement of said portions secures said sheath to the lower ends of said posts.

2. A tent according to claim 1 in which said top element comprises a block having a decorative element secured to the upper portion thereof and said end-pieces are in threaded engagement with bores provided in said block.

3. A tent according to claim 1 in which said sheath comprises a number of panels of transparent material each of triangular gothic arch shape with a straight base, two curved sides and an apex, the adjacent sides of adjacent panels being united by a welded seam and at least one of said panels of said sheath being provided with an opening giving access to` the tent interior, a top ring joining said apices, and means for securing said straight bases to the bottom extremities of said posts, said means being mounted on a lateral surface of said posts.

`4. An arrangement as defined in claim 3 further comprising a decorative element secured to the upper surface of said top element and wherein said top ring is adapted to engage over said decorative element.

5. A tent according to claim 3 in which at least one of said panels of said sheath has a sill element secured thereto, said sill element comprising a rectangular cloth strip secured by one of its longer sides to the base of said panel.

6. A tent according to claim 5 in which the longer side of said sill element opposite to that secured to said panel is provided with hooking devices and the adjacent portion of said panel has complementary devices co-operating with said hooking devices to secure said side to said panel.

7. A tent according to claim 6 further comprising a second sheath is provided made of opaque fabric for securing to said posts by hooking devices and said second sheath may be used in addition to said rst named sheath.

8. An arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein each said post is constituted by at least two separable mating sections which are to be placed in longitudinal alignment with one another when said post is to be assembled, a coupling device disposed at those ends of said sections which are adjacent one another when said post is assen1 bled, a coupling sleeve externally mounted on said post and arranged to bridge the connection between said sections so as to maintain a substantially rigid connection between said section when said post is assembled, and two abutment rings, each disposed exteriorly on a respective section and spaced from the end thereof for limiting the longitudinal movement of said coupling sleeve, and wherein said coupling device includes a rst cylindrical element disposed in one said section and recessed from the mating end thereof, a second coupling element disposed in the other said section and projecting from the mating end thereof, and an elastic cord passing through both of said elements and permanently attached thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,314,830 3/1943 Hunter 13S-1 2,543,684 2/1951 Blanchard 135-4 2,865,386 12/1958 Burns 13S-l 2,953,145 9/1960 Moss et al. 135-4 3,105,505 10/1963 Maybee 13S-4 3,223,098 12/1965 Dale 135-4 3,226,737 l/l966 Rote -1 KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 13S-4 

